Buddhist Thoughts is the SLC Buddhist Temple newsletter which is mailed to Temple members each month. Here we provide excerpts from archival Buddhist Thoughts.

2002 December

The Land of Light and Bright
by J.K. Hirano

I wrote this as a children's tale a couple of years ago. It was my hope that in reading this story to our children they would be able to begin to see that there is goodness and strength in diversity. With all the recent problems concerning the Main Street Plaza and the seeming division between Mormon and Non-Mormon. I thought it might be good to reprint this story. It isn't particularly Buddhist or even religious in nature. However, since December is the time of year when we often see the best of our human nature shine forth, I thought it would be appropriate. Once again, on behalf of myself and my girls, Kacie and Taylor, I would like to thank all of you for your support over the past year, we wish that you and your family have a wonderful Holiday Season and the coming year brings lightness and brightness into your lives. Namo Amida Butsu!

Once upon a time there was a land that wasn't very bright or light. In this land lived families of different colors, the red family, yellow family, and blue family. The red families, stayed among other red families, the yellows with yellows and the blues with the blues. As a result, the land stayed rather dim and not very bright or light.

For generations, these families of color remained separate. As a result, in each of these separate families of color, beautiful stories, histories and traditions developed. The reds told of how they came from fire. The blues told of how their wonderful blueness came from the sky. The yellows told of their ancestors the sun and stars. Each of these families would look toward the heavens and remember their ancestors and hope to fulfill their true potential in their own way.

However, the children of these families often wondered why they couldn't play with one another. They would see the other colors playing in the distance and wonder what those children were like. The little reds would go home and ask, "Why can't we play with the other colored children." The elder reds would explain, "We have never mixed with the other colors. Our family has a wonderful tradition of redness. Why would you want to leave and mix with yellow or blue? We think it best that you stay with us reds. You should be proud of who and what you are."

The blue children would go home and ask, "Why can't we play with the red or yellow children?" The elder blues would explain, "What a silly question, it's because those other children aren't blue. Doesn't that seem logical. This world has many colors, if we mixed, how would you know who and what you are. Blues should stay with blues, reds with reds and yellows with yellows. Otherwise all we would get is a bunch of mixed up colors. The world would become black and dark. There would be no order." The blue children would reply, "Is there something wrong with mixed up colors? Have you ever seen mixed up colors?" The elder blues looked at one another and smiled, "You know, when we were young, we often thought of mixing the colors, just as you do. But we eventually realized that blues should stay with the blues. After all, isn't the sky blue? We should tolerate the other colors. Just as we have provided the others with the sky. Look into the heavens and isn't it blue? If the yellows or reds, don't like our sky, they could leave. Since they stay, they must also like it the way it is. We think it best that you stay with our own kind. It was good enough for me, my grandfather and his mother before him, so enough of this silly talk."

The yellow children would ask their parents, "Father yellow, Mother yellow, why must we remain apart from the other colored children?" The elder yellows would reply, "Children we love you for who you are. Our ancestors the sun and the stars shine for all. This is where we came from, the sun and stars. However, while shining upon all, isn't the sky still the sky, the sun still the sun and the fire still fire. This is the way of the world, the blues with the blues, the yellows with the yellows and the reds with the reds. Now go to sleep my children and rest."

Time slowly passed in this land not very bright or light. At about the same time within each of these families, a very special child was born. Each of these children listened to the stories of their families' histories and loved them. However, questions arose within each of them. The red child began to wonder, "When I walk in the sun, I feel the same warmth as that feel from my ancestor fire. Can the two actually be one and the same?" The blue child wondered, "I can see the sky and it is vast and beautiful. However, if the Sun were not out, would I be able to see the blue?" The yellow child wondered, "The Sun provides for all of us, it is warm like fire. With the Sun and fire, I can see the blue sky, isn't it all a part of the same thing?" These questions persisted within each child and one day they left their families to find the answer to their questions.

Each of these children, missing their families, walked and walked. Without knowing it, they were all walking in the same direction from different points. As they neared one another, they each experienced something miraculous. This land that wasn't very bright or light, began to change. They saw upon each of their horizons, lightness and brightness. From these different points, they began to run towards the light. As little red, blue and yellow ran, they suddenly ran into one another.

Great fear filled each of them, for the stories of the mixed colors had been taught well and each had listened. Yet at that same moment of great fear, they could feel a great energy bursting forth from the center of their being. They each joined one another and began to sail across the sky, red with blue, blue with yellow, yellow with red. Across the land of not bright or light, a wondrous rainbow filled the sky. This rainbow was not just red, blue or yellow, but bright and light, made up of red, blue, yellow, green, purple and orange. Upon each of the families of color, this great and wondrous light shown forth, this mixing of the colors, brought joy and happiness, not doom or destruction. A rainbow of light now filled the world, awakening the families of red, yellow and blue.

Once upon a time there was a land not very bright or light. Yet, through the questions of three children, a wondrous joining of colors began. This is the story of our land of bright and light. To the great joy of the families of red, yellow and blue, it was not blackness, that was created and the colors did not need to mix into nothingness. Rather, through the joining of the hands of the children of color, great light filled the land. Thus began the new stories and traditions for the families in the land of bright and light. Namo Amida Butsu.

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